April credits Malcolm, an evolutionary ecologist, with “recruiting” her to use sponges—considered a common ancestor of all animals—as a model more than a decade ago. In his lab, Malcolm studies how sponges defend themselves against predators. “Sponges produce a lot of nasty chemicals, as do bacteria living in the sponge,” he says. “This is of interest to pharmaceutical companies, which potentially could produce a particular drug for relatively little money if they found a way to grow the symbionts that result in these compounds.”

The Hills spread the word about sponges by mentoring undergraduate scientists. Before her freshman year, Crystal Richardson, 19, was one of nine students chosen to be an HHMI research intern. Richardson shadowed April Hill for a year, learning techniques, and then spent the summer conducting research. “For me, the question of, `how did we become what we are today?' was most interesting,” says Richardson.

Kay Holstien, 21, a senior biology major supported by HHMI for two summers, has been working with April Hill since her freshman year. She found the sense of scientific community fostered by the husband-wife research team to be as infectious as their love of sponges.

“Working in the lab showed me how sharing ideas and helping each other with experiments is critical to doing research,” Holstien says. “I'll take that feeling of community with me wherever I end up.” What's not clear, however, is whether she'll take all of the SpongeBob paraphernalia she's accumulated over the past four years, including cups, pajama pants, pens, a towel and, of course, a collection of SpongeBob sponges.

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